It is imperative to the protection of the rights of all student athletes in the State of North Dakota that the NDHSAA permit James Marks from Legacy High School the opportunity to compete as an individual in the wrestling postseason.  The NDHSAA must be compelled to become responsive to extenuating circumstances that involve the discriminatory treatment of student athletes.  Ignoring responsibility and hiding behind administrative procedures does not meet the standard needed to protect student athletes, address inequity, or regulate fair play in our state. The NDHSAA sitting on their hands to maintain an exclusive and autocratic status quo must not continue to be an option.  Allowing James to wrestle sends a message that equal rights for student athletes is paramount in North Dakota.  Power and privilege dynamics must not be used to subjugate, discriminate, and mistreat students at any member NDHSAA institution. 
   James was obliged to transfer from St. Mary’s for reasons ultimately involving discrimination.  It was by no means a “choice.” The NDHSAA Constitution says that athletes who transfer be required to sit out for one year.  That’s obscenely unfair  when the circumstances were not in the student athlete’s hands and were in fact a violation of the NDHSAA constitution itself! James’s experience is going to be subject of a forthcoming petition to the NDHSAA to create a student athlete’s bill of rights to prevent any future injustices, but there is no deadline on achieving that result. The pressing matter is that an honest, quiet, and humble kid not be punished for the actions of corrupt self-interested adults.  Even in the context of the current archaic and punitive NDHSAA rules, it makes no sense to prevent an athlete from participating in individual competition which has nothing to do with scoring points for a varsity team or giving any competitive advantage to any team.  There is zero negative consequence for James to be permitted to compete at WDA’s and earn the right to compete in the state tournament.  Holding James out can only be viewed as a punishment in a line of continued abuses.  As one of the top ranked wrestlers in the state, the integrity of the results of the varsity wrestling season can only be achieved by permitting James to compete with his peers.  The integrity of competition has already been soiled in favor of protecting egos and shameful cliques of adults.   Please do not allow it to continue at James’s expense.
   The end of the wrestling season is rapidly approaching.  James has already been made to sit out the football season and the entire dual wrestling season through no fault of his own.  The NDHSAA has been largely derelict in the duty of addressing any of the merits of James’s situation.  North Dakota is a small place and it apparently takes some public shaming to get people to do their jobs when it involves holding other members of the establishment accountable.  It costs the NDHSAA nothing to completely ignore James and his plight while hiding behind rules.  It takes integrity to stand up for those who cannot help themselves and hold people accountable for their actions.  Please join James and his family in seeking basic fairness and protection of the rights every student would ideally be afforded.